Learning SEO by teaching SEO here on the real estate SEO forums

Lead Generation SEO
#1

I mentioned in a previous thread we’re onboarding several new SEO staff here at Real Estate Webmasters and that I’ll be using these forums in order to coach/teach these new staff how to be the best they can be.

The logic of doing it here is: all our customers also get to see what we’re teaching and can follow along, and learn better SEO at the same time. And for those that don’t have the time or inclination, perhaps it shows them just how much we actually know about SEO and how good we are at it.

So here is my next assignment for @WesMartin and @MarcelloTosti

I’d like you to read this SEO tutorial (it’s one of the best out there for current SEO) it’s written by Brian Dean, and it’s one of the best articles out there to study high-level concepts of modern-day (2023) SEO.

And then the assignment: Twice per week (Wes Monday / Wednesday) Marcello Tuesday / Thursday) - I’d like you to spend 30 mins creating a thought-providing topic right here on the forums where you summarize or “teach” a single element from that article that you find the most interesting.

A few more guidelines:

Think about your post from an SEO perspective in terms of it actually ranking itself for keywords.

For instance, the name of the topic itself here on the forums becomes the filename and the page title, and as we know, the page title is the most important element of on-page SEO.

So when you construct your page title, try to think about what keywords it might attract and try to make it relevant to real estate.

For example, maybe you pick Core Web Vitals as your topic (screenshot from Dean article)

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Your title might be: “Improve your CORE Web vitals to improve your real estate SEO”

See what I did there? I included a core keyword for REW “real estate SEO”

I would then go on to write a post that introduced (in your own unique words) what CORE Web vitals is and why they are important. (For both users and search engines).

I’d provide “true authority” outbound links (such as linking to the definition of core web vitals as per Google)

And then I’d provide some “in-thread” advise on where to find them, how to measure them and how to improve them.

Of course, since we’d also doing this to improve REW’s SEO, I’d make sure if there are topics (pages, blog posts or forum posts) that are super helpful to the topic, I’d find those and I’d link to them within the forum thread itself so that we’re improving internal linking (a critical element of on-page SEO) and be sure to use context-specific anchor text (not “click here”)

Each time you post, we can take a look at the post itself, give you feedback on how to improve it (make it even better for SEO, but also better for helping our users)

The end goals?

#1: You learn by teaching (you have to do the research to post, and by researching then re-enforcing by posting and then engaging with community for follow ups you’ll really get into these concepts

#2: Our customers will learn some REALLY powerful SEO techniques and concepts

#3: It will help our own SEO (develop authority, create new copy, rank for more phrases)

#4: It will drive community engagement

#5: It will be a bit of fun :slight_smile:

So let’s go! (pinging @AidanC @AmyPye and @Emma for visibility

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#2

@Emma we’re starting with the new folks, but this is also something we should do with existing team members since it’s never a bad idea to revisit the most important concepts. Let’s talk about it and maybe free up their time for a post or two June+ once the new guys are taking on some of the workload :slight_smile:

#3

This is super exciting! I’m really looking forward to sharpening my SEO skills alongside keeping the community engaged with techniques that can help them thrive.

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#4

Hey Morgan, you got it! I’ll put together a couple SEO articles next week - I’ll be looking forward to it.

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#5

@WesMartin Not articles (these are not “long form”, Aidan is assigned to those) you’re working on “forum posts” which are shorter, meant to start conversations. An example is the titles one linked to from the post above.

So the format is something like:

This is what I want to introduce:

This is why it matters to Realtors®

Here are one or two examples of it being done well in practice (or here is how you might do this on your Renaissance site) etc

Here’s a simple example

#6

Thank you for the clarification, @Morgan.

Here’s my first post on the REW forums: Optimize your search intent to give yourself the best chance to rank for real estate SEO

I’d love to get your input on this one.

#7

Thanks Wes,

I read it. Good info, but still a bit too “bloggish” - this is the community, the goal is to get others involved and build your personal brand by showcasing your personality.

As such I think it should be a bit shorter, and entice users to contribute. And add some commentary

Yours started with (kind of boring…)

Understanding search intent is imperative for you to ever rank for any keyword - particularly the remarkably competitive real estate industry.

It could have started with

Is anyone else curious about search intent? (as it relates to SEO)? I’ve been looking into it recently and I thought I’d share what I found so far. I’d love to know your thoughts as well.

Something like that. See the difference? You want to engage your consumers if you can right away. Make them feel like they are part of the conversation.

You also don’t want to come across as “too much” of an expert or they might be intimidated and not want to post

And finally, you should not answer all the questions (you should have some of your own) - that way users can feel like they have valuable contributions to share. Pique their curiosity and leave it unresolved. That is what my buddy @DanStewartHG says about writing. I think it plays here on the forums.

Get them interested and engaged (and write it in a way to rank) but don’t give them everything or you exclude them from the conversation

PS - be sure to add your picture, we’re here to get to know each other. Your writing here is not just to rank (though that’s awesome) it’s also to get the community engaged and build your brand as an expert and friendly / helpful member of the community :slight_smile:

#8

The focus on SEO in the forums, with real estate specific examples, has been incredibly valuable for us. I’m picking off our low hanging fruit optimizations one by one.

I also just started guiding an agent on the pillar page/content cluster concept that I learned here in the forums. She’s targeting relocation for an Air Force base in her market. I’m doing the keyword research and website work, while she’s writing the content.

On a 1-10 scale we would have hit a 5 on this project, but with what I’ve been learning in the forums lately, we can hit much closer to 10!

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#9

That’s great feedback Victor, thank you! (Glad it’s helping).

Appreciate your contributions here on the forums as well. You are most definitely helping us (and others) get better too!

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#10

Perfect, thanks for the clarification, @Morgan.

Blog writing has traditionally been my bread and butter, so I appreciate the insight on forum writing. I’ve heard you loud and clear on what you’ve mentioned above. Here’s a link to my most recent post today - could I get you to cast your eyes over it, please?

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#11

Gazillion times better my new friend. Made me want to join the conversation!

But don’t get me wrong - we have room for amazing (long-form, highly researched, high-quality blogs too!) you’re just not assigned that task right now. Good to know you have experience, we might give you some of those too :slight_smile:

But for forums - it’s art, science and magic. (And it’s different)

I think your latest post is great!

The “magic” happens not when you write the perfect post though. It’s when enough people have gotten to know you, respect you (heck even like you) and they “look forward to” your next post.

That’s when you know you’re winning the community building game.

Reading between the lines - not everything we do here is about starting interesting topics that will rank, or looking smart. It’s as much about supporting and encouraging others, engaging with their content, getting personal (even being a bit silly or funny)… all the things.

My favourite posts (personally) will always be of your little one, or a pet or something good in the world that you appreciate and share.

Again, great stuff. thanks for taking the feedback and adjusting. That’s a skill all in it’s own and very encouraging

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